Provider

1

A Provider is the legal entity that supplies you with services or a utility for which you expect to be charged. A single Provider may supply you with more than one utility (e.g. Electricity and Gas). Within Sigma there are three main types of Provider which are; Supplier, Meter Operator or Data Collector and Aggregator. A single Provider may fulfil any one or more of these services.
A Provider may be the party responsible for the provision of a utility to your meters but may not be a Supplier in the industry sense of the term. This is typically relevant to scenarios where your utility charges are passed through by another party, for example you have a rented property and your landlord recharges the utility costs.

Contract

2

A Contract is a referenceable agreement between you and the Provider. A Contract may be evergreen in which case the Permanent option is selected, or it may be timebound, having both a start date and an end date.
A Contract is for a single commodity type and may cover one or more supply points and their meters.
As a Contract is related to one and only one commodity this means that, if you were to have a dual fuel type agreement, this would be represented by one Provider with two Contracts.

Organisation

1

The Organisation is the top-level entity with respect to the portfolio's physical structure. An Organisation may be created for each legal entity that is billed and responsible for the consumption of utilities, or a single Organisation may be created for an entire group. In most cases a single Organisation is used to manage a customer's portfolio.
The decision with regards to the number of Organisations that you wish to create largely comes down to the need to differentiate the assets attributable to each. If there is a strong need to separate information then it would be sensible to have separate Organisations (for example if there is a need to attribute inbound and outbound costs to different legal entities), however, if the combined picture is more often of interest then a single Organisation is likely to achieve the desired results.

Site Group

2

Site Groups are another level of hierarchical configuration in addition to Organisations. Site Groups are completely optional and may or may not be used. Site Groups can be used to structure your portfolio in a logical way. Site Groups might for example be used to mirror the geographic distribution (e.g. North, East, etc…), the cost centre that the Sites attributed to them belong to (e.g. Retail, Manufacturing, etc..) or some other frequently referenced grouping with your organisation. As Property Keys can be used to assign specific properties, the selection of the Site Group is not the only way in which Sites can be distinguished as you could for example configure with graphical site groups and then assign a cost centre based property and use that to select and work on Sites.

Site

3

Sites are the physical locations to which your utilities are supplied. These will typically be buildings and be referenceable by a postcode. Sites have specific properties and the contact details of someone that is responsible for them. Over time a Site may be Closed or become Non-Operational. The specification of Sites is typically easier than the selection of the number and level of Organisations and Site Groups to create as they are a one to one mapping with the physical distribution of your infrastructure.

Account

4

Accounts in Sigma are the items that represent the granular Supply Point level at which you are billed. It is anticipated that there be only one Supply Point effective for an Account on any one specific day. An Account is also expected to be for a single commodity, so while it may be that a Supply Point is associated to an Account, and its configuration may change over time resulting in multiple Supply Point records, it is not expected that Supply Points for different commodities are associated to the same Account.
Account configuration is needed if your intention is to use Sigma for bill validation purposes.
As a rule of thumb, if wanting to estimate the number of Accounts you will need to configure, it would be the answer to the question "How many distinct supplies of different commodities, do I expect to receive bills for for my usage on any one specific day?". Note, this is different to the number of bills, as one single bill from a supplier may include several your supplies (typically referred to as a bulk bill).

Supply Point

4

Supply Points represent the industries' physical infrastructure required for the provision of a utility of a given commodity to your Site. In the case of utilities that aren't supplied continuously (e.g. Oil Deliveries), the Supply Point represents the storage facility on-site.
The Supply Point in Sigma is the Item that links the different parts of the story (physical, technical and supply) together.
The provision of a utility through a Supply Point is normally technically measured using Meters, that may record readings/consumption based on differing frequencies.
The quantity of the utility, or its availability for use if required, (the supply) is billed to the customer based on their contractual agreement with their Providers.
Supply Points are the entities that provide visibility of the Contract Containers that link these different aspects together for defined periods of time.

Meter

4

A Meter is the equipment that measures and records the flow of a utility through a Supply Point during a period of time. The provision of utilities is often measured based on recording the amount consumed directly or recording readings of how much has flowed through the Meter at two separate times and then inferring that the amount consumed is the difference between the readings.
The creation of Meters is required if you wish to use Sigma for Monitoring and Targeting purposes.
As Meters represent the technical physical reality there is no need for any decision making with regards to the level and number of these that need to be created. Distinct Meters need to be created for each Meter from which you anticipate receiving data which needs to be loaded into Sigma.

Non Periodic Channel

5

Channels are the time series data holders that are used in Sigma to record and manage data. Similar to Meters, and their use of readings or consumption, Channels come in two types; Non-Periodic and Periodic.
A Non-Periodic Channel is a channel for which consumption or reading data is entered along with the datetime for which they are applicable.
A Non-Periodic Channel is required in order to be able to use Sigma to Enter Meter Readings.

Periodic Channel

5

A Periodic Channel is used to record data for cases where the measurement of consumption is performed on a routine recurring periodic basis.

Associated Data

6

Associated Data is used to record supplementary information to be used in validation or the calculation of data. Examples of the use of Associated Data include the definition of floor areas for sites to enable the calculation of usage per m2 rates, the definition of the Agreed Supply Capacities for Supplies to be used in the validation of charges or the definition of PPU rates for Accounts which are also used in the validation of charges.

Contract Container

6

Contract Containers are the intermediary object used to relate Contracts, Accounts, Supply Points and Meters. A Contract Container defines, for a period of time, the Contract that is applicable for the provision of a utility through the Meters on a Supply Point that is billed via an Account.
Contract Containers are not displayed as a separate Item type via the Sigma UI and are effectively created and modified via Supply Points. A Supply Point may have one or more Contract Containers over time. A Contract Container can only be associated to one Supply Point (and one Contract, one Account and one or more Meters).

Property Key

6

Property Keys are the method by which it is possible to assign custom data to the entities in your Utility Portfolio. These custom properties can then be used to search for records in your portfolio.
All Property Keys that are defined to be created need to be assigned a reference of the record that they are to be allocated to. For example, it may be desirable to use the "AMR" Property Key which has values of "True" or "False". If this Property Key is to be used then the Meter or Meters to which we wish to assign it need to be defined.

Organisation

1

Organisations

Energy Management & Bill Validation (hence always Mandatory)

Site Groups and Sites

2

Site Groups
Sites

Energy Management & Bill Validation (hence always Mandatory)

Account and Supply

2

Accounts
Supply Points

Bill Validation

Meter and Channel

2

Meters
Channels

Energy Management requires both Meter and Channel information & Bill Validation only requires Meter information

Provider and Contract

3

Providers
Contracts
Contract Containers

Bill Validation

Property Keys

1

Property Keys

Optional for Bill Validation (use effectively means additional validation is possible)

Associated Data

1

Associated Data

Optional for Bill Validation (use effectively means additional validation is possible)

Meter and Channel

Mandatory if Channel is being added

The Meter and Channel worksheet caters for the creation of Meters and associated Channels. If Channels are being defined then the fields listed as "Mandatory if Channel is being added" are required.

Provider and Contract

Mandatory if Contract is being added

The Provider and Contract tab can be used to define the Contracts that supplies are under. If this capability is to be used the fields listed as "Mandatory if Contract is being added" are required.

Provider and Contract

Mandatory if Contract Container is being added

The Provider and Contract tab can be used to define the Contract Containers that link the Accounts, Supplies and Meters to the Contracts that they are provisioned/serviced under. If this capability is to be used the fields listed as "Mandatory if Contract Container is being added" are required.